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The replay mark 2

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A very professional performance, and Micky confounded the moaners - and the opposition - by getting it spot on tactically once again.

I thought this was a better performance than the Oxford game because we played some really good football at times, certainly in the first half, and the build up to both goals was great. I thought we started the game in a composed fashion and passed the ball well and never really relinquished control of the midfield. The second half was a scrappier affair, but we still managed the game well and saw the match out pretty comfortably. Southport only really looked threatening for about ten minutes at the start of the second half with their long throws and set plays, and Scotty made a couple of decent saves when called upon.

Tactically, you can't really overstate how well we were set up tonight. The three man midfield meant we did not get bullied in the middle of the pitch as in the first game and had good control, the three centre halves allowed us to deal with the aerial threat, and by playing two strikers their defence was never allowed to settle.

Individually, I thought all three centre halves were solid, but Monthe was immense. Caprice got some criticism at the weekend but showed his positive side tonight as a wing back, overlapping on numerous occasions and supplying the cross for the second goal. James Norwood never ceases to amaze me with his fitness and workrate: he was still chasing balls down on the edge of our own eighteen yard box in the 94th minute, having played twice in three days. Man of the match, however, was Connor Jennings, and not just for the goals. What a gifted footballer he is.

A thoroughly professional performance - the change in formation worked a treat and aside from a few nervy head tennis moments in our box and one excellent save from Davies we were untroubled. Jennings goals were excellent of course but we perhaps could have created more clear cut scoring attempts but that said given we went in at 2-0 that was probably never likely to be. Interesting how in both replays they struggled to get anywhere near to matching their play in the first games. Shame we dropped 3 points on Saturday with needing to change players ahead of a game against a NLN side! but the end justifies the means I guess and at least some of the money that the Spurs game will generate can hopefully be used wisely to bring in some more strength. Let's hope we can return to winning ways against Bury which should be a good game and hope the County loss does not impact where we finish this season.

Super White!

The damage was done in the first half. Southport as you would expect came out in the second half looking for an early goal but Tranmere’s defence was excellent and soaked everything up. McNulty and Manny were superb and Ellis had a solid game too.

They actually ended up with 51% possession overall as they did have quite a bit of the ball in the 2nd half but not enough quality to trouble us.

Now they have to do the same in league games work harder close down more. Think its gonna be the same price as the Liverpool games £20 witch if we had a full house would bring in £320k ok I know with kids it will be less but with all the suites probe gonna be full food and drink sales . The fan park . We could be getting close to 400k. Let's hope spurs do what they did last season and give us there share of the cash witch would be amazing. Then there's the added benefit of the TV money witch I'm led to believe is £145k . Let's just hope with a potentiall full house we do are selves justice

I agree with Ian that it would not necessarily work against a footballing side like Bury. One of the centre halves would be redundant as they are not going to just bomb balls into our box like Southport. Having said that, I think Micky will do something different tactically on Saturday to stem the tide.

Micky is adept at changing formations according to the opposition, the venue, player availability and the current form of the team. It also keeps the opposing manager guessing. Poch will not have learned much about Tranmere from Monday's game. I expect our team, our formation and our approach to be quite different on 4th January.

Having been away for a few days, I finally watched the full game last night. I was surprised how dominant we were in the first quarter yet how even it became after that despite our being two goals up. Full credit to Southport for not capitulating after conceding the second against the run of play. While it was a case of "job done", in the end we relied on two brilliant strikes by Connor. We didn't have too many clear-cut chances. However, morale should be high going into Saturday. I didn't think anyone performed badly and in particular Jake Caprice and Mark Ellis will be pleased to have redeemed themselves after the County game.